The Crystal Stopper [45]
only a means of working upon Clarisse Mergy's feelings and perhaps also a warning for her to cease the contest upon which she had engaged. But the threat of a suicide must needs show Daubrecq that he was on the wrong track. That being so, why refuse the favourable bargain which Arsene Lupin was now offering him?
"I accept," he said.
"Here's the address of my shed: 99, Rue Charles-Lafitte, Neuilly. You have only to ring the bell."
"And suppose I send Prasville, the secretary-general, instead?"
"If you send Prasville," Lupin declared, "the place is so arranged that I shall see him coming and that I shall have time to escape, after setting fire to the trusses of hay and straw which surround and conceal your credence-tables, clocks and Gothic virgins."
"But your shed will be burnt down... "
"I don't mind that: the police have their eye on it already. I am leaving it in any case."
"And how am I to know that this is not a trap?"
"Begin by receiving the goods and don't give up the child till afterward. I trust you, you see."
"Good," said Daubrecq; "you've foreseen everything. Very well, you shall have the nipper; the fair Clarisse shall live; and we will all be happy. And now, if I may give you a word of advice, it is to pack off as fast as you can."
"Not yet."
"Eh?"
"I said, not yet."
"But you're mad! Prasville's on his way!" "He can wait. I've not done."
"Why' what more do you want? Clarisse shall have her brat. Isn't that enough for you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"There is another son."
"Gilbert."
"Yes."
"Well?"
"I want you to save Gilbert."
"What are you saying? I save Gilbert!"
"You can, if you like; it only means taking a little trouble." Until that moment Daubrecq had remained quite calm. He now suddenly blazed out and, striking the table with his fist:
"No," he cried, "not that! Never! Don't reckon on me!... No, that would be too idiotic!"
He walked up and down, in a state of intense excitement, with that queer step of his, which swayed him from right to left on each of his legs, like a wild beast, a heavy, clumsy bear. And, with a hoarse voice and distorted features, he shouted:
"Let her come here! Let her come and beg for her son's pardon! But let her come unarmed, not with criminal intentions, like last time! Let her come as a supplicant, as a tamed woman, as a submissive woman, who understands and accepts the situation... Gilbert? Gilbert's sentence? The scaffold? Why, that is where my strength lies! What! For more than twenty years have I awaited my hour; and, when that hour strikes, when fortune brings me this unhoped-for chance, when I am at last about to know the joy of a full revenge - and such a revenge! - you think that I will give it up, give up the thing which I have been pursuing for twenty years? I save Gilbert? I? For nothing? For love? I, aubrecq?... No, no, you can't have studied my features!"
He laughed, with a fierce and hateful laugh. Visibly, he saw before him, within reach of his hand, the prey which he had been hunting down so long. And Lupin also summoned up the vision of Clarisse, as he had seen her several days before, fainting, already beaten, fatally conquered, because all the hostile powers were in league against her.
He contained himself and said:
"Listen to me."
And, when Daubrecq moved away impatiently, he took him by the two shoulders, with that superhuman strength which Daubrecq knew, from having felt it in the box at the Vaudeville, and, holding him motionless in his grip, he said:
"One last word."
"You're Wasting your breath," growled the deputy.
"One last word. Listen, Daubrecq: forget Mme. Mergy, give up all the nonsensical and imprudent acts which your pride and your passions are making you commit; put all that on one side and think only of your interest... "
"My interest," said Daubrecq, jestingly, "always coincides with my pride and with what you call my passions."
"Up to the present, perhaps. But not now, not now that I have taken a hand in the business.
"I accept," he said.
"Here's the address of my shed: 99, Rue Charles-Lafitte, Neuilly. You have only to ring the bell."
"And suppose I send Prasville, the secretary-general, instead?"
"If you send Prasville," Lupin declared, "the place is so arranged that I shall see him coming and that I shall have time to escape, after setting fire to the trusses of hay and straw which surround and conceal your credence-tables, clocks and Gothic virgins."
"But your shed will be burnt down... "
"I don't mind that: the police have their eye on it already. I am leaving it in any case."
"And how am I to know that this is not a trap?"
"Begin by receiving the goods and don't give up the child till afterward. I trust you, you see."
"Good," said Daubrecq; "you've foreseen everything. Very well, you shall have the nipper; the fair Clarisse shall live; and we will all be happy. And now, if I may give you a word of advice, it is to pack off as fast as you can."
"Not yet."
"Eh?"
"I said, not yet."
"But you're mad! Prasville's on his way!" "He can wait. I've not done."
"Why' what more do you want? Clarisse shall have her brat. Isn't that enough for you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"There is another son."
"Gilbert."
"Yes."
"Well?"
"I want you to save Gilbert."
"What are you saying? I save Gilbert!"
"You can, if you like; it only means taking a little trouble." Until that moment Daubrecq had remained quite calm. He now suddenly blazed out and, striking the table with his fist:
"No," he cried, "not that! Never! Don't reckon on me!... No, that would be too idiotic!"
He walked up and down, in a state of intense excitement, with that queer step of his, which swayed him from right to left on each of his legs, like a wild beast, a heavy, clumsy bear. And, with a hoarse voice and distorted features, he shouted:
"Let her come here! Let her come and beg for her son's pardon! But let her come unarmed, not with criminal intentions, like last time! Let her come as a supplicant, as a tamed woman, as a submissive woman, who understands and accepts the situation... Gilbert? Gilbert's sentence? The scaffold? Why, that is where my strength lies! What! For more than twenty years have I awaited my hour; and, when that hour strikes, when fortune brings me this unhoped-for chance, when I am at last about to know the joy of a full revenge - and such a revenge! - you think that I will give it up, give up the thing which I have been pursuing for twenty years? I save Gilbert? I? For nothing? For love? I, aubrecq?... No, no, you can't have studied my features!"
He laughed, with a fierce and hateful laugh. Visibly, he saw before him, within reach of his hand, the prey which he had been hunting down so long. And Lupin also summoned up the vision of Clarisse, as he had seen her several days before, fainting, already beaten, fatally conquered, because all the hostile powers were in league against her.
He contained himself and said:
"Listen to me."
And, when Daubrecq moved away impatiently, he took him by the two shoulders, with that superhuman strength which Daubrecq knew, from having felt it in the box at the Vaudeville, and, holding him motionless in his grip, he said:
"One last word."
"You're Wasting your breath," growled the deputy.
"One last word. Listen, Daubrecq: forget Mme. Mergy, give up all the nonsensical and imprudent acts which your pride and your passions are making you commit; put all that on one side and think only of your interest... "
"My interest," said Daubrecq, jestingly, "always coincides with my pride and with what you call my passions."
"Up to the present, perhaps. But not now, not now that I have taken a hand in the business.